Why then, does the second half of a duo still get to play for HoH the week following their partner's reign? I'm struggling to wrap my head around how that is fair or logical.
Because technically, all power of nominating people rests solely on the HOH. Brendon isn't in charge of nominating people. It's like the clique twist - even though someone from your clique won HOH last week, and even though you were safe and stuff, you still played HOH the next week to see if you could keep safety in your clique.
I'm sure someone'll explain it all Thursday.
I understand, I just don't think it's 100% fair. By that logic, Brendon is allowed to compete next week because he isn't technically HoH this week and the noms aren't his. But, if that's true, it should work that way all around. He shouldn't be safe from eviction, benefit from the veto, or get a pass on Have Nots either because he isn't technically HoH this week. The partner of the HoH.....not singling out Brendon, he's just the person that fits this week..... gets all of the benefit and doesn't have to suffer the consequence.
I can see making the partner of the HoH exempt from nomination, because that would benefit the HoH directly (although, what are the odds the HoH would nominate their own partner anyway) so that would be an HoH perk, which is justifiable. But I really can't make sense of how they are exempt from Have Nots AND still get to play for HoH next week. That seems like they are getting the best of both worlds.